Substance Abuse And Domestic Violence - 3742 Words

Introduction and Background Many people who seek domestic violence services, and even more who do not seek services, are dealing with substance abuse issues as well as abuse. The reasons that domestic violence victims begin their substance abuse vary, but can include: use as a coping mechanism in order to survive the abusive situation, a way to deal with abuse of the past, coercion and by an abusive partner, chemical dependency, cultural oppression or a new sense of freedom (Bland Edmund, 2005). Whatever the reason for substance abuse, it can lead to isolation and shame. These feelings are then often intensified and magnified when domestic violence is occurring at the same time. There is a large societal stigma surrounding both†¦show more content†¦The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is when the victim tries to leave, and the average person returns to their abuser seven times before leaving for good. According to the 2011 Wisconsin Domestic Violence Hom icide Report, there were 40 domestic violence related deaths in Wisconsin in 2011. The deceased in these cases ranged in age from less than a year to 82 years, with one in five of them being under the age of five. Most of these deaths occurred shortly after the victim left their abuser (2012). Substance abuse is defined as a pattern of substance use leading to significant life impairment or hardships; like failure to fulfill obligations, substance use in physically dangerous situations, frequent legal problems related to substance use, or continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Substance abuse is a diagnosable health problem, but often viewed as a moral failing which can compound the issues of people seeking services for sobriety (Bland Edmund, 2005). Substance abuse can also cause reduced inhibitions, clouded thought processes and lesser abilities to access threats which may caus e a person to miss the warning signs of an abusive person. While they may lessen the self -protective instincts of victims, the side effects of substance abuse are often noticed by manipulative

Cancer Rates And Lifestyle Choices - 1981 Words

Cancer Rates and Lifestyle â€Å"Cancer has become one of the most devastating diseases world-wide—every year about 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer and, of these, more than 7 million will die of this disease† (Panno 91). Cancer rates are at an all-time high and are an increasing issue in our world today. Specific races are not susceptible to cancer, but regions are. The lifestyle choices being adopted throughout the world are a direct cause of the recent increase in cancer rates and cancer related deaths, however they can be prevented if combatted early on. Alcohol is one of these harmful lifestyle choices that most people world-wide accept in their late teens or early twenties. According to Melinda Beck, a Wall Street Journal†¦show more content†¦Beck’s purpose is to zero in on how harmful alcohol is to the body in order to create awareness on how alcohol creates an increase in cancer rates and biological imbalance. Just like alcohol, smokin g is harmful to the body and is another attribute to the ever-growing cancer rates around the world. In Arthur I. Holleb’s book The American Cancer Society Cancer Book: Prevention, Detection, Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation, Cure, he claims that cancer rates increase when a person smokes. He supports this claim by first emphasizing how cancer rates are double in those that smoke opposed to those who do not. Then he further supports the argument by recognizing how the risk depends on certain factors in the patient’s life such as: population, commonness of smoking, how long and how much you have been smoking, and tar amount a person has taken in. Holleb’s purpose is to inform people of dangerous smoking is in order to prevent people from taking up the habit and increasing their risk of obtaining cancer. Smoking is the number one reason not only lung cancer but many other forms of cancer around the world today. Smoking is an addictive habit that releases harmf ul chemicals

Taxation Fred Australian Citizen

Question: Describe about the Taxation for Fred Australian Citizen. Answer: Case 1: The capital gain that might be generated by Fred after the sales of holiday home: Fred being an Australian citizen could effectively use the both indexation and discounted method for calculating the capital tax. In addition, the indexation method could be effectively used as the property was mainly purchased before 1999 September (Ato.gov.au 2016). In addition, the any property that is been purchased after the 1999 September the indexation method could not be used for calculating the capital gain. Fred has mainly purchased the property in 1987. Furthermore, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been used for determining the CPI of 1987 quarter and 1999 quarter (Ato.gov.au 2016). With the help of this valuation, the overall capital gain and taxable amount of Fred could be effectively evaluated. Furthermore, the indexation method has been effectively conducted by using the CPI value for both 1987 and 1999. In addition, Fred is both a citizen and an individual in Australia, which allows Fred to use both Indexation and discounted method for calculating his capital gain tax. After the effective calculation of both indexations and discounted method, Fred could choose the capital tax method, which reduces his overall taxes (Ato.gov.au 2016). In addition, with the help of discounted method Fred is able to obtain a reduced taxable income, which might help in increasing his retained income. In addition, the capital loss, which was incurred in previous year, might effectively be deducted from the overall taxable income generated after the discounted method. As per ATO, discounted method is more helpful for individuals investors to reduce their overall taxable amount (Ato.gov.au 2016). Calculating the Net Capital Gain/Loss of Fred for the period ending on 30th June,2016 Discounted Method Indexation Method Particulars $ Amount $ Amount $ Amount $ Amount a) Sale of Holiday Home : Sales Consideration 8,00,000 8,00,000 Less : Cost Base of the Property 100,000 153378.4 Legal Fees on Sales (Exclusive of GST) 1,000 1,000 Commission of Real Estate Agent 9,000 9,000 Stamp Duty on Purchase 2,000 3,067.6 Legal Fees on Purchase 1,000 1,533.8 Construction Cost of Garage 20,000 133,000 24,673.9 192,653.6 Capital Gain on Sale 667,000 607,346.4 Less : 50% Exemption on Capital Gain 333,500 Taxable Capital Gain (A) 333,500 607,346.4 Less : Capital Loss of Previous Year 10,000 10,000 Net Taxable Capital Gain 323,500 597,346.4 Table 1: Depicting Freds capital gain for 2016 (Source: as created by author) Table 1, mainly helps in depicting the overall capital gain that might be generated by Fred by following the discounted or indexation method. Moreover, the use of discounted method might help Fred in reducing the overall taxable income and in turn retain more profits from sale of the Holiday home. The taxable amount as per discounted income is at 323,500. However, the indexation method might increase the taxable amount to 597,346.4 so the use of discounted method is more profitability for Fred. Change in net taxable amount if capital loss was from antique: The second situation mainly states that the overall capital loss, which was incurred by Fred mainly generated from loss of antique. In addition, as per the ATO the capital loss generated from an antique could only be deducted from capital gain generated from antique (Ato.gov.au 2016). Thus, the overall taxable amount of Fred will change in the current situation and will be around 333,500 as per the discounted method. Case 2: a. Providing relevant information of Periwinkle regarding the FBT consequences that it currently faces: Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) on Car: The following table mainly helps in depicting the overall fringe benefit that is provided by Periwinkle to its employee Emma. In addition, the benefit is effectively taxable amount as per the guidelines of ATO. Furthermore, the car was mainly used for 336 days and thus fringe benefit is only calculated on that basis and amounts to $6,059.02, which is taxable on Periwinkle. Schneider (2013) cited that governments with the help of fringe benefit taxation system are able to effectively change tax on income that is been distributed among employees of the company. Calculating the Fringe Benefit generated from car Particulars Details Amount Total Kms. Travelled during the FBT year A 10,000 No. of Days in the FBT year B 366 No. of Days of Travel C 336 Annualised Kilometres (A x B/C) 10,892.857 Statutory Rate as per Annualised Km. E 20.00% Cost Base F $33,000 No. of Days available for Private Use C 336 No. of days in FBT Year B 366 Taxable Value (FxExC)/B $6,059.02 Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) on Loan: The following table mainly helps in depicting the overall Fringe benefit tax, which might be paid by Periwinkle for lending help to its employee. As per the ATO guidelines, the interest is calculated on the market rate and thus, 5.95% is calculated for depicting the fringe benefit generated from loan. In addition, the overall taxable amount on fringe benefit generated from loan amounts to $22,250. Scott, Currie and Tivendale (2012) mentioned that fringe benefit tax mainly helps in reducing the unethical measures taken by the company to retain more profits. Calculating the Fringe Benefit generated from loan Particulars Details Amount Loan to Employee A $500,000 Benchmark Interest Rate B 5.95% Actual Interest Rate C 4.45% Taxable Value Interest on Loan D = (AXC) $22,250 Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) on Discount: The following table main depicts the overly fringe benefits that is been generated by providing discounts to employee of Periwinkle. In addition, the taxable amount was mainly calculated by deducting the 75% of market price by actual price paid by the employee (Morris and Wilson 2014). Then the balance amount $650 is taxable under fringe benefit. Calculating the Fringe Benefit generated from discount Particulars Details Amount $ Market Price of the Bathtub A 2,600 Special Price for the Employee B 1,300 Taxable Value of the Bathtub C=A x 75% 1,950 Taxable Value of Benefit C - B 650 Providing fringe benefit tax that needs to be paid by Periwinkle inclusive of GST: The following table mainly helps in depicting the overall fringe benefit tax, which is to be paid by Periwinkles. In addition, the segregation of GST inclusive and free fringe benefits is effective depicted in the table. Barkoczy (2016) stated that segregation of GST tax mainly help in depicting the exact taxable amount of the company. Moreover, around $28,374.33 is the total taxable amount, which needs to be paid by Periwinkle for the period ending 31st march 2016. Calculating the Fringe Benefit Tax of Periwinkle Pty. Ltd for the period ending on 31st March,2016 GST Inclusive GST Free Particulars Amount $ Amount $ Car Benefit 6,059.02 Interest on Loan 22,250 Sale at Special Rate 650 Total of GST Inclusive/Free Benefits 6,059.02 22,900 A B Gross-up Rate 2.1463 1.9608 C D Gross-up Value 13,004.47 44,902.32 E = A x C F=B X D Total Taxable Fringe Benefit 57,906.79 G = E + F Fringe Benefit Tax Rate 49% J Fringe Benefit Tax Liability 28,374.33 K = G x J b. Depicting the changes that might be incurred if the share was purchased by Emma and not her husband: If Emma has purchased the overall shares then Periwinkle would be entitled for a deduction in FBT, which in turn help in decreasing its overall fringe benefit liabilities. In addition, the income that might be generated from shares like dividend will not be a taxable amount and Periwinkle is not entitled to pay any tax for such benefits. Lastly, the income that is being generated from shares will be a taxable amount for Emma and not affect the overall fringe benefit tax of Periwinkles. Gabbay and Smets (2013) argued that income generated from shares is mainly taxable under income tax or capital gain tax. Reference and Bibliography: Ato.gov.au. (2016).How to calculate your FBT | Australian Taxation Office. [online] Available at:https://www.ato.gov.au/General/fringe-benefits-tax-(fbt)/how-to-calculate-your-fbt/ [Accessed 18 Sep. 2016]. Ato.gov.au. (2016).Loan and debt waiver fringe benefits | Australian Taxation Office. [online] Available at: https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Fringe-benefits-tax-(fbt)/In-detail/Employers-guide/Loan-and-debt-waiver-fringe-benefits/?page=8#8_8_Reduction_in_taxable_value_where_interest_would_have_been_deductible_to_employee [Accessed 18 Sep. 2016]. Ato.gov.au. (2016).Property fringe benefits | Australian Taxation Office. [online] Available at: https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Fringe-benefits-tax-(fbt)/In-detail/Employers-guide/Property-fringe-benefits/?page=4#Goods_manufactured_or_produced_by_the_provider [Accessed 18 Sep. 2016]. Barkoczy, S., 2016. Foundations of Taxation Law 2016.OUP Catalogue. Ford, A. and Wiebe, Z., 2015. Financing for College with the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act: Make the Zero Rate for Qualified Dividends and Net Capital Gain Work toward Building a College Fund.Journal of Accountancy,220(1), p.56. Gabbay, D.M. and Smets, P. eds., 2013.Quantified Representation of Uncertainty and Imprecision(Vol. 1). Springer Science Business Media. Harding, M., 2013. Taxation of Dividend, Interest, and Capital Gain Income. KAPLAN, R.L. and PRICE, D.J., 2014. I. THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REVENUE ACT OF 1913: MARKING A CENTURY OF INCOME TAX LAW IN THE UNITED STATES: Change and Continuity in Fringe Benefit Taxation: Seeking Sense and Sensibility.NYL Sch. L. Rev.,59, pp.285-775. Morris, A. and Wilson, S., 2014. Struggling on the Newstart unemployment benefit in Australia: The experience of a neoliberal form of employment assistance.The Economic and Labour Relations Review,25(2), pp.202-221. Nijland, L. and Dijst, M., 2015. Commuting-related fringe benefits in the Netherlands: Interrelationships and company, employee and location characteristics.Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice,77, pp.358-371. Reichert, C.J., 2015. Right to Purchase Land Is a Capital Asset: A Taxpayer's Sale of His Position in a Lawsuit Resulted in Capital Gain Rather Than Ordinary Income.Journal of Accountancy,219(3), p.68. Schneider, K.N., 2013. Soften the blow by providing tax-free fringe benefits to terminated employees.Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business,2, p.0_1. Scott, R.A., Currie, G.V. and Tivendale, K.J., 2012. Company cars and fringe benefit taxunderstanding the impacts on strategic transport targets February 2012. Woellner, R., Barkoczy, S., Murphy, S., Evans, C. and Pinto, D., 2016.Australian Taxation Law 2016. Oxford University Press.

Target Corporation Essay Example For Students

Target Corporation Essay Cranefield College of Project and Programme Management MODULE M6 Financial Management of Corporate Projects and Programmes Case: TARGET CORPORATION 1. Executive Summary Target corporation has a growth strategy of opening 100 new stores per year. Doug Scovanner, the CFO of Target Corporation is preparing for the November meeting of the Capital Expenditure Committee (CEC). He is one of the executive officers who are members of the CEC. With the fiscal year’s end approaching in January, there was a need to determine which projects best fit Target’s future store growth and capital expenditure plans, with the knowledge that those plans would be shared with both the board and the investment community. Target has a growth strategy of opening approximately 100 new stores a year. CEC referred projects with an investment larger than $50 million to the board of directors for approval. The five CPRs that Scovanner would present to the board are: Gopher Place, Whalen Court, The Barn, Goldie’s Square and Stadium Remodel. We will write a custom essay on Target Corporation specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Recommendations to the Capital Expenditure Committee The capital expenditure committee should accept all the proposals before it. This will be based on the factors as detailed on part three of this document. The NPV’s of all these projects are positive, a positive NPV contributes favorable to the share price or share value. The Internal Rate of Return of these entire projects are below the prototype store IRR which is a benchmark project. The IRR is an alternative to NPV however if the NPV is positive and the IRR is not what is desired, the NPV may supersede in making an investment decision. The IRR is what is expected based on internal factors. Projects with a low IRR may be funded through debt capital if cost of debt is below the project IRR/ rate of return. An overarching objective of Target Corporation is to meet the corporate goal of adding 100 new stores a year while maintaining a positive brand image. Since all of these shops have a positive NPV and in the long run they all make good earnings before interest and taxes. The CEC must accept them because they will achieve the goal of market capitalization and brand visibility. The Stadium remodel is particularly important because the store has deteriorating and dilapidating facilities that would defeat the purpose of a positive brand image. The store must be remodeled before it starts affecting the sales of other Target stores with bad publicity. Whalen Court is to be open in a metropolitan area and it is an urban center. The population of this trade area is very big and has a good income median. The project requires a lot of capital investment; however it presents Target stores with a unique contribution in that it would offer free advertising to the corporation. There are a lot of consumers passing by and Target already spends in excess of $100 million dollars in advertising opening this shop might help reduce these costs. If funds are a limiting factor, Target should fund the projects in the following other: 1. Gopher Place should be considered first. The project requires a 23 000 000 investment. It has the best NPV and it is above the prototype store NPV. The sales can still decline by more than 5% and it would still be above the prototype store. It has a better EBTI compared to the other costs, though its present’s risks it offers opportunity as well. . Whalen Court may be the second in line. It has a positive NPV although it is below the prototype store value. If sales improve by 1. 9%, it would be equal to the prototype store NPV. This is a better NPV compared to the remaining two projects. The store provides a good market with a huge population and better income median. 3. Goldie’s Square, the NPV is positive but the sale s must still rise by 45. 1% before it can meet the prototype store NPV. The NPV is not as good as can be expected but it is still positive. What makes this a desirable investment is the location that the store will be built in. Project is important because of its strategic location; all the big retailers want to capture this market for visibility and market capitalization. Since this is not a huge investment it may be considered. 4. Stadium Remodel is paramount that the CEC makes this investment failing that the poor state of the facilities would tarnish the image of the brand. The NPV is positive and EBIT. 2. Problem / decision statement In the Capital Expenditure Approval Process, there is the Capital Expenditure Committee (CEC) which is a team comprising of top executives that meet monthly to review all capital project requests (CPR) in excess of $100 000. All of the proposals are considered economically attractive and any CPR’s with questionable economics are rejected. Doud Scovanner, the CFO of Target Corporation is preparing for the November meeting of the CEC where he will present five CPRs to the committee of five, which he is a member of. Financial data and all other related data about these projects is available; he now has to compile a report to the committee, convincing them that they make a decision about investing in these projects. The CEC considers several factors to decide whether to accept or reject a proposal. He has to detail his report such that it becomes convincing to the CEC and they must therefore decide to release the money for the CPRs. 3. Critical or key issues The Capital Expenditure Committee (CEC) is a team comprising of top executives that meet monthly to review all capital project requests (CPR) in excess of $100 000. All of the proposals are considered economically attractive and any CPR’s with questionable economics are rejected. The CEC considers several factors to decide whether to accept or reject a proposal. Critical factors that the CEC considers in evaluating CPRs are: 1. The overarching objective was the corporate goal of adding about 100 stores a year while maintaining a positive brand image. 2. Projects must provide a suitable Net Present Value (NPV) 3. Projects must provide a suitable Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 4. Sensitivity of NPV and IRR to sales variation. 5. Projected profits 6. Projected earnings per share 7. Total investment size 8. Impact on sales of nearby Target stores Net present value it the difference between market value of the investment and its cost (Firer et al 2009:269). The rule for net present value is that the investment with more positive present value must be taken in the expense of the one with negative or lower positive present value. Advantages of net present value ?   The introduction of time value of money ?   It expresses all future cash flows in today’s value, which enables direct comparisons ? It allows for inflation and escalations ?   It looks at the whole project from the start to finish ? It can stimulate project what if analysis using different values ? It gives more accurate profit or loss forecast Gopher place| Whalen court| The barn| Goldie’s square| Stadium remodel| Accumulated present value| 39800| 145200| 33500| 24200| 32700| Less initial investment| (23000)| (119300)| (13000)| (23900)| (17000)| Net present value| 16800| 25900| 20500| 300| 15700| Internal rate of return It is value of discount factor when the net present value is equal to zero (Firer et al 2009:280). The rule of internal rate of return is t hat the project with the higher rate of return must be accepted because its gives the clear indication that the project will succeed Advantages of Internal rate of return    It is not complicated to understand and communicate Disadvantages of Internal rate of return ?   This method may results in multiple answers or not deal with non conventional cash flow ? May lead to incorrect decision in comparison with mutually exclusive investment ? Another problem with IRR comes about when cash flow are not conventional Graph showing the internal rate of return of 5 possible project * Gopher place 12. 3% * Whalen court 9. 8% * The barn 16. 4% * Goldie’s square 8. 1% * Stadium remodel 10. 8% Projected profits and earnings per share Target corporation uses projected profit as one its criteria to accept or reject the project, the entities sales had increased a lot from the previous years so the company project the project of the of new project by taking into account the existing stores profits. Earnings per share of target corporation for financial year ending January 2006 is $2. 73 per share according to exhibit2 which is computed by taking current year total comprehensive income and dividing it by the number of ordinary shares of the company. Target corporations earning per share is greater than earning per share of its bigger competitor Waal mart and this shows that the company is really doing well in the market and it possess powers to expand its dominance in the market by introducing new stores each year 4. Analysis from a strategic, qualitative and quantitative perspective Gopher Place: P04; Store NPV: $16 800 000 HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard)| Sales| NPV| Sales could decrease by (5. 3%) and still achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Sales would have to increase by 2. 2% to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Gross Margin| NPV| Gross Margin could decrease by (0. 72) pp and still achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Gross Margin would have to increase by 0. 29 pp to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Construction (Building Site work)| NPV| Construction costs could increase by $3,102 and still achieve the Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Construction costs would have to decrease by ($751) to achieve Prototype Store IRR| | | Full Transfer Impact| NPV| Sales would have to increase by 2. 3% to achieve Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Sales would have to increase by 9. % to achieve Prototype Store IRR| RISK/OPPORTUNITY| 10% Sales Decline| NPV| If sales declined by 10% Store NPV would decline by($4,722) | IRR| If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 3)pp| | | 1 pp GM Decline| NPV| If gross margin decreased by 1 pp, Store NPV would decline by ($3,481)| IRR| If gross margin decreased by 1 pp, Store IRR would decline by (0. 9) pp. | | | 10% Construction cost increase| NPV| If construction cost incre ased by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($1,494)| IRR| If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. ) pp. | | | Market Margin, Wage Rate, etc| NPV| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store NPV would decline by ($5,434)| IRR| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store IRR would decline by (1. 5) pp. | | | 10% Sales increase | NPV| If sales increased by 10%, Store NPV would increase by $4,621| IRR| If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 2 pp| VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE| The Gopher Place with a store NPV of $16,800 is $3,038 above the Prototype Store NPV. The following items contributed to the variance. Land| NPV| Land cost contributed a positive $287 to the variance from prototype. | IRR| Land cost contributed a positive 0. 1 pp to the variance prototype. | | | Non-Land Investment| NPV| Building/site work costs contributed a negative ($4,741) to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Building/site work costs contributed a negative (2. 6) pp to the variance from Prototype. | | | Sales| NPV| Sales contributed a positive $6,331 to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Sales contributed a positive 1. 9 pp to the variance from Prototype. | | Real Estate Taxes| NPV| Real Estate Taxes contributed a positive $615 to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Real Estate Taxes contributed a positive 0. 2 pp to the variance from Prototype. | 1. Strategic importance * This is a key market for Target already has five stores in the area. Wal-Mart is expected to add two new supercenters in response to the population growth. In order to curtail Wal-Mart’s market dominance and to ensure that the brand image of Target is maintained in this locality it is imperative that a P04 store is built. The population in this area is growing at a rate of 27% between the years 2000 – 2005, the median income for the population is $56 400; this store will surely increase market capitalization of Target stores and thereby maintaining a positive brand image which is a strategic goal. 2. Net Present Value HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) * The project is viable with a positive net present value of $16 800 000. A positive NPV value will results in an increase in share value. * Based on this factor the project should be accepted as it will increase share value. The projected sales could decrease by 5. 3% and the NPV of the project will still be achieved. * Even when a gross margin of the project were to decrease by 0. 72 percentage point the project will still yield a positive NPV. * If this project is undertaken it would require that a new (own) shop be erected which will result in cash outflows in a form building and site work, the planned construction cost could still increase by $3,102 000 and the project will maintain a positive NPV. * The transfer sales from other stores in the trading area will have to increase by 2. % to achieve the prototype store NPV. * On the basis of NPV this projected may be accepted. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If sales were to decline by 10% the NPV would decrease by $4 722 000 just over 28% of the NPV. * If the gross margin decrease by 1 percentage point the NPV would decrease by $3 481 000 a 20. 72 % decrease of the NPV. * If the construction costs increased by 10% the NPV would decline by $1 494 000, an 8. 89% decrease of the NPV. * If market specifics assumptions on market margins, wages etc are applied the store NPV would decrease by $5 434 000 a 32. 5% on the prototype store NPV. * If sales increased by 10% the NPV would increase by $4 621 000 a 27. 51% increase. * The risks associated with this project are greater but so are the opportunities with a 10% sales increase there would be a 27. 51% increase in the NPV. This pro ject should be accepted the project managers must exercise caution on the costs as the project has an elements of risk. Variance from the plans must be kept at minimum. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * The NPV of this project exceeded the prototype store value by $3 038 000 the following factors contributed to the variance. Land cost contributed a positive $287 to the variance from prototype. * Building/site work costs contributed a negative ($4,741) to the variance from Prototype. * Sales contributed a positive $6,331 to the variance from Prototype. * Real Estate Taxes contributed a positive $615 to the variance from Prototype. * The NPV of this project is acceptable as it exceeds by far the expectation and based on this the project should be accepted. 3. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) * Internal Rate of Return is an important alternative to NPV; the IRR summarizes the merits of the project. This rate is an internal rate in a sense that it depends only on cash flows of a particular project or investment, not on rates offered elsewhere hence internal rate of return. * The project has an IRR of 12. 3%, this IRR does not meet the prototype store IRR sales must still increase by 2. 2% achieve this. * The gross margin of the project must increase by 0. 29 percentage point in order to achieve the required IRR. * The cash outflow related to the construction costs must still decrease by $751 000 in order to achieve the required IRR. * Transfer sales must increase by 9. % to achieve desired IRR. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 3) percentage point, IRR is already below the prototype store value. * If gross margin decreased by 1 percentage point, Store IRR would decline by (0. 9) percentage point, which is an almost equal decline. * If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 6) percentage point, this decl ine in IRR is far less than the increase in costs. * If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 2 percentage point, this is a positive indication. based on the IRR figures this is not a very risky venture if sales decline by 10% IRR decline by 1. 3 percentage point but when sale increase by 10% IRR only increase by 1. 2 percentage point. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * Land cost contributed a positive 0. 1 percentage point to the variance prototype. * Building/site work costs contributed a negative (2. 6) percentage point to the variance from Prototype. * Sales contributed a positive 1. 9 percentage point to the variance from Prototype. * Real Estate Taxes contributed a positive 0. 2 percentage point to the variance from Prototype. The projects IRR is better when compared to the prototype store except for real estate tax which contributed a low 0. 2 percentage point. 4. Projected profits The profit and loss summary suggests that the project will make a projected loss of ($567 000) in the first year of opening the store compared to the prototype store value of ($97 000). By the fifth year the store will be making Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) of $4 452 000 a year $ 886 000 above the prototype store value. This projected should be accepted on the basis of the profits it will make as this will increase the share value. 5. Projected earnings per share Earnings per share are affected by both the NPV and the earnings/profits of the project/investment. This investment/project has a positive NPV and earnings in the long run which will results in increased earnings per share. 6. Investment required This store requires an investment of $23 000 000 and was scheduled to open in October 2007. This is a sizable investment. The NPV is positive; the population is growing at 27%. The income median of the population is $56 400. The returns on this investment would payback this amount far soon than can be anticipated. 7. Impact on sales of nearby Target stores .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .postImageUrl , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:hover , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:visited , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:active { border:0!important; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:active , .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492 .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u63ac9ee6bcea616003243fa2ee6e6492:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Student Athlete Drug Testing EssayThere is a high density of Target stores in the trade area and nearly 19% of the sales included in the forecasts were expected to come from existing targets stores. This will not be good for the business generally however the 81% of forecasted sales will either come from new market growth or from completion. Conclusion * This project should be accepted by the CEC based on the above criterion. The project presents a lot of risks and opportunities to Target stores. The opportunities far outweigh the risks, positive higher NPV, increase EBIT, additional store to meet target and increase brand image. The project can still be accepted with the IRR figures although they are below a prototype store value. The IRR is based on an internal value, if for an example the projected may be funded by borrowed funds and the debt cost are below the IRR it would be a perfectly acceptable investment. As long as the project has a positive NPV this will increase the share value. Whalen Court: Unique Single Level; Store NPV: $14,225 HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard)| Sales| NPV| Sales would have to increase by 1. 9% to achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Sales would have to increase by 31. % to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Gross Margin| NPV| Gross Margin would have to increase by 0. 28 pp to achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Gross Margin would have to increase by 4. 58 pp to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Construction (Building Sitework)| NPV| Construction costs would have to decrease by ($4,289) to achieve the Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Construction costs would have to decrease by ($41,070) to achieve Prototype Store IRR| | | Full Transfer Impact| NPV| Sales would have to increase by 7. 7% to achieve Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Sales would have to increase by 36. % to achieve Prototype Store IRR| RISK/OPPORTUNITY| 10% Sales Decline| NPV| If sales declined by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($16,611) | IRR| If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 0)pp| | | 1 pp GM Decline| NPV| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store NPV would decline by ($11,494)| IRR| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store IRR would decline by (0. 7) pp. | | | 10% Construction cost increase| NPV| If construction cost increased by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($2,178)| IRR| If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 1) pp. | | | Market Margin, Wage Rate, etc| NPV| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store NPV would decline by ($16,877)| IRR| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store IRR would decline by (1. 1) pp. | | | 10% Sales increase | NPV| If sales increased by 10%, Store NPV would increase by $16,647| IRR| If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 0 pp| VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE| The Whalen Court with a store NPV of $14,225 is $3,174 below the Prototype Store NPV. The following items contributed to the variance. | Lease| NPV| Lease cost contributed a negative ($78,912) to the variance from prototype. | IRR| Lease cost contributed a negative (15. ) pp to the variance prototype. | | | Non-Land Investment| NPV| Building/sitework costs contributed a negative ($10,168) to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Building/sitework costs contributed a negative (7. 9) pp to the variance from Prototype. | | | Sales| NPV| Sales contributed a positive $99,963 to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Sales contributed a posi tive 22. 9 pp to the variance from Prototype. | | | Real Estate Taxes| NPV| Real Estate Taxes contributed a negative ($637) to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Real Estate Taxes contributed a negative (0. 2) pp to the variance from Prototype. | . Strategic importance * This is a unique single-level store. Target already has forty five stores in this trade area. The Whalen Court market represents a rare opportunity for Target to enter an urban center of a major metropolitan area. Unlike other areas, this opportunity provided Target with major brand visibility and essentially free advertising for all passersby. The population of this area is significantly high and the median income for the population is $48 500; this store will surely increase market capitalization of Target stores and thereby maintaining a positive brand image which is a strategic goal. The investment costs will be balanced by the huge adverting costs that Target will save on annually if this project is undertaken. 2. Net Present Value HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) * The project is viable with a positive net present value of $25 900 000 . A positive NPV value will results in an increase in share value. * Based on this factor the project should be accepted as it will increase share value. * The project is risky as the projected sales must still increase by 1. 9% and gross margin improve by 0. 28 percentage point before it can achieve the prototype store NPV. The cash outflows must decline by $4 289 and transfer sales from other stores in the trading area will have to increase by 2. 3% before the prototype store NPV can be achieved. * The NPV is positive that is acceptable however the projected NPV is below the prototype store which is factor to be considered in order to evaluate the project. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If projected sales declined by 10% the NPV w ould decrease by $16 611 000 (64. 14% decline) of the NPV and If gross margin decrease by 1 percentage point the NPV would decrease by $11 494 000 (44. 38%) decline in NPV. Should construction costs increased by 10% the NPV would decline by $2 178 000 (8. 41%) decrease of the NPV and if market specifics assumptions on market margins, wages etc are applied the store NPV would decrease by $16 877 000 (65. 16%) of the prototype store NPV. * If sales increased by 10% the NPV would increase by $16 647 000 (64. 27%) increase in the NPV. * This is a very risky investment if the CEC accept this project they must put a lot of measures to mitigate the risk. It can also be beneficial if sales cost increase, the NPV figures aren’t that positive due to the risk factors. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * The NPV of this project is below the prototype store value by $3 174 000 the following factors contributed to the variance. * Lease, site work and real estate tax costs must be contained in order to mitigate the risk, they contributed a negative $78 912 000, $10 168 000 and $637 000 respectively to the variance from prototype store. * Sales contributed a positive $99 963 000 to the variance from Prototype thus if sales could be increased and the above costs contained this project would be desirable. 3. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) Internal Rate of Return is an important alternative to NPV; the IRR summarizes the merits of the project. This rate is an internal rate in a sense that it depends only on cash flows of a particular project or investment, not on rates offered elsewhere hence internal rate of return. * The project has an IRR of 9. 8% which is below the prototype store IRR as required. * Sales has to increase by 31. 1% , gross margin has to increase by 4. 58 percentage the cash outflow related to the construction costs has to decrease by $41 070 000 before the project can achieve the required IRR. * Transfer sales must increase by 36. % to achieve desired IRR. * The IRR of this project is far from what is required for the project to be approved. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 0) percentage point, if gross margin decreased by 1 percentage point, Store IRR would decline by (0. 7) percentage point and If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 1) percentage point. * If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 0 percentage point, this is a positive indication. * The IRR does not present a big risk as a 10% decline in sales only has a 1 pp decline. The 10% sales increase also results in a 1 pp increase. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * The IRR for this project is below the prototype store IRR the following factors contributed to the negative IRR. * Land cost and real estate taxes must be maintained at current levels as they contributed a positive 0. 1 and 0. 2 percentage point respectively to the variance prototype however site work costs must be contained they contributed a negative (2. 6) percentage point to the variance from Prototype. * Sales have to increase they contributed a positive 1. 9 percentage point to the variance this is below the negative 2. pp by site costs. 4. Projected profits The profit and loss summary suggests that the project will make a projected loss of ($1 599 000) in the first year of opening the store compared to the prototype store value of ($1 136 000). By the fifth year the store will be making Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) of $14 034 000 a year ($8 509 000) prototype store value. Although the pr ojected is making losses in the first year, it should be accepted on the basis of the profits it will make as this will increase the share value. 5. Projected earnings per share Earnings per share are affected by both the NPV and the earnings/profits of the project/investment. This investment/project has a positive NPV and earnings in the long run which will results in increased earnings per share. 6. Investment required This store requires an investment of $119 300 000 and was scheduled to open in October 2008. This is a huge investment. The NPV is positive; the population is big. The income median of the population is $48 500 which is good. The returns on this investment would be achieved among other things by the savings that would be made from the adverting costs. Target already spends in excess of $100 000 000 in advertising this project will allow them huge marketing and advertising on no cost thus reducing advertising bill. It will also enhance brand image and visibility. 7. Impact on sales of nearby Target store There is a high density of Target stores (45 stores) in the trade area and sales would be expected to come from existing targets stores as there are many. This is a huge metropolitan area so Target would be able to tap to new consumers and those of the competition. Conclusion * This project should be accepted by the CEC based on the above criterion. The project presents lots of risks and opportunities to Target stores. The opportunities far outweigh the risks, positive higher NPV, increase EBIT, additional store to meet target and increase brand image. The project can still be accepted with the IRR figures although they are below a prototype store value. The IRR is based on an internal value, if for an example the projected may be funded by borrowed funds and the debt cost are below the IRR it would be a perfectly acceptable investment. As long as the project has a positive NPV this will increase the share value. This project is important because of the trade area a metropolitan area and an urban center this will go a long way in achieving the strategic goals of market penetration, brand visibility. $119 300 000 is a lot of money but it can be financed through debt at a rate lower than the IRR. Goldie’s Square: SUP04M; Store NPV: ($3,319) HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard)| Sales| NPV| Sales would have to increase by 45. 1% to achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Sales would have to increase by 47. 2% to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Gross Margin| NPV| Gross Margin would have to increase by 4. 4 pp to achieve Prototype Store NPV | IRR| Gross Margin would have to increase by 4. 91 pp to achieve Prototype Store NPV| | | Construction (Building Sitework)| NPV| Construction costs would have to decrease by ($22,167) to achieve the Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Construction costs would have to decrease by ($14,576) to achieve Prototype Store IRR| | | Full Transfer Impact| NPV| Sales would have t o increase by 62. 5% to achieve Prototype Store NPV| IRR| Sales would have to increase by 63. 1% to achieve Prototype Store IRR| RISK/OPPORTUNITY| 10% Sales Decline| NPV| If sales declined by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($4,073) | IRR| If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 1)pp| | | 1 pp GM Decline| NPV| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store NPV would decline by ($3,929)| IRR| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store IRR would decline by (1. 1) pp. | | | 10% Construction cost increase| NPV| If construction cost increased by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($1,470)| IRR| If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 3) pp. | | | Market Margin, Wage Rate, etc| NPV| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store NPV would increase by $6,059| IRR| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store IRR would increase by 1. pp. | | | 10% Sales increase | NPV| If sales increased by 10%, Store NPV would increase by $4,008| IRR| If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 1 pp| VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE| The Goldie’s Square with a store NPV of ($3,319) is ($18,222) below the Prototype Store NPV. The following items contributed to the variance. | Land| NPV| Land cost contr ibuted a positive $1,501 to the variance from prototype. | IRR| Land cost contributed a positive 0. 3 pp to the variance prototype. | | | Non-Land Investment| NPV| Building/sitework costs contributed a negative ($581) to the variance from Prototype. IRR| Building/sitework costs contributed a negative (0. 1) pp to the variance from Prototype. | | | Sales| NPV| Sales contributed a negative ($16,455) to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Sales contributed a negative (4. 4) pp to the variance from Prototype. | | | Real Estate Taxes| NPV| Real Estate Taxes contributed a negative ($2,682) to the variance from Prototype. | IRR| Real Estate Taxes contributed a negative (0. 7) pp to the variance from Prototype. | 1. Strategic importance Target wants to build a Super Target store in this area. Targets already have twelve stores in this trade area but are expected to have twenty four eventually. The Goldie’s Square market is considered a key strategic anchor for many retailers. The Goldie’s Square center included Bed Bath Beyond, JC Penney, Circuit City and Borders. This is hotly contested area with affluent and fast growing population, which could afford good brand awareness should the growth materialize. Investing in this project will achieve strategic goals of having more shops in the locality and brand visibility. The area is fast growing and affluent. The population is growing at a good rate of 16% and has a $56 000 median income. 2. Net Present Value HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) * The project has a positive net present value of $300 000. This NPV is very low however it is still positive. A positive NPV value will results in an increase in share value. * Based on this factor the project should be accepted as it will increase share value. * This NPV is far below the prototype store which is a minimum requirement the projected sales must increase by 45. 1% and gross margin must improve by 4. 64 percentage point before it can achieve the prototype store NPV. The site work cash outflows must decline by $22 167 000 and transfer sales from other stores in the trading area will have to increase by 62. 5% before the prototype store NPV can be achieved. * The NPV is positive that is acceptable however the projected NPV is below the prototype store which is factor to be considered in order to evaluate the project. The projected sales w ill have to increase by a huge percentage in order to reach the prototype store NPV. It is doubtful that the NPV will ever reach the prototype. The CEC must consider other critical factors in the adjudication process. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If projected sales declined by 10% the NPV would decrease by $4 073 000 (1 358% decline) of the NPV and If gross margin decrease by 1 percentage point the NPV would decrease by $3 929 000 (1 310%) decline in NPV. * Should construction costs increased by 10% the NPV would decline by $1 470 000 (490%) decrease of the NPV and if market specifics assumptions on market margins, wages etc are applied the store NPV would decrease by $6 059 000 (2 020%) of the prototype store NPV. * If sales increased by 10% the NPV would increase by $4 008 000 (1 336%) increase in the NPV. This project has very low NPV figures and this project presents greater risks. A 10% decline in sales reduces the NPV more than a thousand times for an example. The NPV figures aren’t that positive due to the risk factors. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * The NPV of this project is far below the prototype store value the following factors contributed to the variance. * site work, sales and real e state tax costs must be contained in order to mitigate the risk, they contributed a negative $581 000, $16 455 000 and $2 682 000 respectively to the variance from prototype store. Land contributed a positive $1 501 000 to the variance from Prototype. 3. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) HURDLE ADJUSTMENT (CPR Dashboard) * Internal Rate of Return is an important alternative to NPV; the IRR summarizes the merits of the project. This rate is an internal rate in a sense that it depends only on cash flows of a particular project or investment, not on rates offered elsewhere hence internal rate of return. * The project has an IRR of 8. 1% which is below the prototype store IRR as required. * Sales has to increase by 47. 2%, gross margin has to increase by 4. 1 percentage the cash outflow related to the construction costs has to decrease by $1 576 000 before the project can achieve the required IRR. * Transfer sales must increase by 63. 1% to achieve desired IRR. * The IRR of this project is far below from what is required for the project to be approved. RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 1) percentage point, if gross margin decreased by 1 percentage point, Store IRR would decline by (1. 1) percentage point and If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 3) percentage point. .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .postImageUrl , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:hover , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:visited , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:active { border:0!important; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:active , .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4 .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud88eda8e4bf4c221597912ff025b41d4:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Martin Heidegger EssayIf market margin, wage rate etc the IRR would increase by 1. 6 pp. * If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 1 percentage point, this is a positive indication. * The IRR does not present a big risk as a 10% decline in sales only has a 1. 1 pp decline. The 10% sales increase also results in a 1. 1 pp increase. VARIANCE TO PROTOTYPE * The IRR for this project is below the prototype store IRR the following factors contributed to the negative IRR. * Land cost must be maintained at current levels as they contributed a positive 0. 3 percentage point to the variance prototype. Site work costs and real estate taxes must be contained they contributed a negative (0. 1) and (0. 7) percentage point respectively to the variance from Prototype. Sales have to increase they contributed a negative 4. 4 percentage point to the variance. 4. Projected profits The profit and loss summary suggests that the project will make a projected loss of ($1 921 000) in the first year of opening the store compared to the prototype store value of ($654 000). By the fifth year the store will be making Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) of $2 951 000 a year (2 343 000) prototype store value. Although the projected is making losses in the first year, it should be accepted on the basis of the profits it will make as this will increase the share value. 5. Projected earnings per share Earnings per share are affected by both the NPV and the earnings/profits of the project/investment. This investment/project has a positive NPV and earnings in the long run which will results in increased earnings per share. 6. Investment required This store requires an investment of $23 900 000 and was scheduled to open in October 2007. This is not a huge investment. The NPV is positive; the population is big, growing at 16%. The income median of the population is $56 000 which is good. The returns on this investment are not that impressive. This project is however important because of its strategic location, all the big retailers want to capture this market for visibility and market capitalization. Since this is not a huge investment it may be considered. 7. Impact on sales of nearby Target stores There are about twelve Target stores in the trade area and sales would be expected to come from existing targets stores as there are many. This trade area has a lot of Target stores competitors so most of them will come from them and new markets. Conclusion * This project can be accepted by the CEC because it is not a huge investment. The project presents lots of risks. The store has a positive NPV although it is quite low, increase EBIT, additional store to meet target and increase brand image. The project can still be accepted with the IRR figures although they are below a prototype store value. The IRR is based on an internal value, if for an example the projected may be funded by borrowed funds and the debt cost are below the IRR it would be a perfectly acceptable investment. As long as the project has a positive NPV this will increase the share value. This project is important because all retailers was a foothold of this area. This place will go a long way in achieving the strategic goals of market penetration, brand visibility. Stadium Remodel: SUP1. 1 /S 04; Store NPV: $14,911 RISK/OPPORTUNITY| 10% Sales Decline| NPV| If sales declined by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($7,854) | IRR| If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 8)pp| | | 1 pp GM Decline| NPV| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store NPV would decline by ($6,457)| IRR| If margin decreased by 1 pp, Store IRR would decline by (1. 5) pp. | | | 10% Construction cost increase| NPV| If construction cost increased by 10% Store NPV would decline by ($910)| IRR| If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 3) pp. | | | Market Margin, Wage Rate, etc| NPV| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store NPV would decline by ($11,317)| IRR| If we applied market specific assumptions, Store IRR would decline by (2. 7) pp. | | | 10% Sales increase | NPV| If sales increased by 10%, Store NPV would increase by $6,216| IRR| If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 5 pp| 1. Strategic importance This remodeling is very important to maintaining a good image of the brand. In its current condition the store is deteriorating and dilapidating. The facilities are tarnishing the image of the brand. Target already spends millions of dollars in advertising all this money would be wasted if the facilities are in this state as it would count the good work. This remodel is thus strategic in maintaining a positive brand. 2. Net Present Value RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If projected sales declined by 10% the NPV would decrease by $7 854 000 (52. 67% decline) of the NPV and If gross margin decrease by 1 percentage point the NPV would decrease by $6 457 000 (43. 0%) decline in NPV. * Should construction costs increased by 10% the NPV would decline by $910 000 (6. 1%) decrease of the NPV and if market specifics assumptions on market margins, wages etc are applied the store NPV would decrease by $11 317 000 (75. 9%) of the prototype store NPV. * If sales increased by 10% the NPV would increase by $6 216 000 (41. 69%) increase in the NPV. * This project has a good NPV however sales decline are a risk and if the store is not remodeled the sale will decline and reduce profitability and NPV. 3. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) RISK/OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS * If sales declined by 10% Store IRR would decline by (1. 8) percentage point, if gross margin decreased by 1 percentage point, Store IRR would decline by (1. 5) percentage point and If construction cost increased by 10% Store IRR would decline by (0. 3) percentage point. If market margin, wage rate etc the IRR were applied would decrease by 2. 7 pp. * If sales increased by 10%, Store IRR would increase by 1. 5 percentage point * The IRR present a risk as a 10% decline in sales only has a 1. 8 pp decline. The 10% sales increase also results in a 1. pp increase. 4. Projected profits The profit and loss summary suggests that the project will make a projected loss of ($6 103 000) in the first year of opening the store compared to the prototype store value of ($4 812 000). By the fifth year the store will be making Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) of $1 272 000 a year ($4 025 000) prototype store value. Although the projected is making losses in the first year, it should be accepted on the basis of the profits it will make in the future as this will increase the share value. 5. Projected earnings per share Earnings per share are affected by both the NPV and the earnings/profits of the project/investment. This investment/project has a positive NPV and earnings in the long run which will results in increased earnings per share. 6. Investment required This store requires an investment of $17 000 000 and was scheduled to open in March 2007. This is not a huge investment. The NPV is positive; the population and should the facilities of the store be improved sales will improve. 7. Impact on sales of nearby Target stores There will be no real impact on nearby stores as this is an existing store. The customers that they might have lost due to the condition of the store might be seen coming back mainly from the competition others from nearby stores were shoppers would have sought refuge. Conclusion * Target has to accept this project it has a positive NPV and if this investment is not made the brand image would be tarnished due to poor, deteriorating facilities. This will be against the strategic imperative of projecting a good brand presence. Final Conclusion: Recommendations to the Capital Expenditure Committee The capital expenditure committee should accept all the proposals before it. This will be based on the factors as detailed on part three of this document. The NPV’s of all these projects are positive, a positive NPV contributes favorable to the share price or share value. The Internal Rate of Return of these entire projects are below the prototype store IRR which is a benchmark project. The IRR is an alternative to NPV however if the NPV is positive and the IRR is not what is desired, the NPV may supersede in making an investment decision. The IRR is what is expected based on internal factors. Projects with a low IRR may be funded through debt capital if cost of debt is below the project IRR/ rate of return. An overarching objective of Target Corporation is to meet the corporate goal of adding 100 new stores a year while maintaining a positive brand image. Since all of these shops have a positive NPV and in the long run they all make good earnings before interest and taxes. The CEC must accept them because they will achieve the goal of market capitalization and brand visibility. The Stadium remodel is particularly important because the store has deteriorating and dilapidating facilities that would defeat the purpose of a positive brand image. The store must be remodeled before it starts affecting the sales of other Target stores with bad publicity. Whalen Court is to be open in a metropolitan area and it is an urban center. The population of this trade area is very big and has a good income median. The project requires a lot of capital investment; however it presents Target stores with a unique contribution in that it would offer free advertising to the corporation. There are a lot of consumers passing by and Target already spends in excess of $100 million dollars in advertising opening this shop might help reduce these costs. If funds are a limiting factor, Target should fund the projects in the following other: 5. Gopher Place should be considered first. The project requires a 23 000 000 investment. It has the best NPV and it is above the prototype store NPV. The sales can still decline by more than 5% and it would still be above the prototype store. It has a better EBTI compared to the other costs, though its present’s risks it offers opportunity as well. 6. Whalen Court may be the second in line. It has a positive NPV although it is below the prototype store value. If sales improve by 1. 9%, it would be equal to the prototype store NPV. This is a better NPV compared to the remaining two projects. The store provides a good market with a huge population and better income median. 7. Goldie’s Square, the NPV is positive but the sales must still rise by 45. 1% before it can meet the prototype store NPV. The NPV is not as good as can be expected but it is still positive. What makes this a desirable investment is the location that the store will be built in. Project is important because of its strategic location; all the big retailers want to capture this market for visibility and market capitalization. Since this is not a huge investment it may be considered. 8. Stadium Remodel is paramount that the CEC makes this investment failing that the poor state of the facilities would tarnish the image of the brand. The NPV is positive and EBIT. Strategy analysis Sales growth in the retail industries comes from two main sources: establishing of new stores and organic growth through existing stores. New stores are expensive to build, but are necessary in order to tap into new markets and gain access into a new pool of consumers that could potentially represent high profit potential depending on the competitive landscape. Increasing sales of existing stores is also an important source of growth and value. If an existing store operates profitably, it could be considered for renovation or upgrading in order to increase sales volume; or if a store is not profitable, then management must consider it a candidate for closure. Target needs not only look at establishing new stores, but should also employ growth strategies to grow sales of already existing stores and apply the above policy. Target needs to be cautious of its growth strategy of opening approximately 100 new stores a year. Doug Scovanner must learn some lessons from both Wal-Mart and Costco, then take the best out of those lessons. In year 2000, Wal-Mart had 4189 shops enjoying sales of $178billion. On average, this meant that each shops made sales of $178 billion/4189 = $42,5million per year. They grew by 6141-4189=1952 shops in 5 years to 2005. This was on average about 1952/5=390 shops per year. In year 2005, each shop was on average enjoying sales of $309billion/6141shops=$50,3million per year. If one looks at the rate at which sales grew in the 5 years, it is clear that Wal-Mart only grew its sales by about 15. 5% per shop in 5 years after investing in 1952 shops from $42. 5million per shop in year 2000 to $50. 3 million per shop in year 2005. On the other hand, if one looks at Costco, by 2005, they had grown to 433 warehouses and were enjoying sales of $52,9 billion. On average, this translates to each shop making average sales of about $122,4 million. Bearing in mind that these two companies each had its own sales strategy, also had a different customer base, and a less often overlap on merchandising assortments, but still Wal-Mart’s strategy of massive investment in new shops has not delivered better that what Costco has been able to achieve through its fewer shops which account for 7% (433 Costco warehouses compared with 6141 Wal-Mart shops) of Wal-Mart shops in number by 2005. In order for Target to survive and beat Wal-Mart and Costco out of competition, it would need to out-beat them in their strategies. For example, Wal-Mart’s success was attributed to its â€Å"everyday low price† pricing strategy that was greeted with delight by consumers. This strategy created challenges for local independent retailers who needed to remain competitive. Also, in addition to growing its top line, Wal-Mart had been successful in creating efficiency within the company and branching into product lines that offered higher margins than many of its commodity type of products. These strategies are exactly the strategies that Target must also adopt learning from the success of its competitor which it shared almost the same merchandising assortments and trade area. On the other hand, Costco owes its success and good sales to the membership-fee format it used. It shared its customer base more closely with Target. Membership fees accounted for a significant growth source and are highly significant to operating income in a low-profit-margin business. Costco also provided discount pricing for its members in exchange for membership fees. Target’s strategy of pricing competitively with Wal-Mart on items common to both stores, is a good strategy for Target. But if Target were also to adopt the Costco strategy of membership fees and offer very marginal discount which is just bellow Wal-Mart, which it will supplement with membership fees, this strategy could see Target making more profit margins than its competitors. This will add to the already successful Target strategy of offering credit to its customers through its various credit facilities. In 2005, Target had 1397 stores in 47 states and boosted sales of $52,6 billion. This means that average sales per store were about $38 million. Costco still beat both Wal-Mart and Target when it comes to sales per store. This makes us to arrive at the conclusion that the real competitor of Target was Costco, since Target did better than Wal-Mart. The other critical decision that Target board of directors has to re-look into is the practice of purchasing properties where it built stores. This should really be considered after leasing has been ruled out of question. The core business of Target is retail, it is not property investment. With them buying these properties, could easily make them to end up using money that could have been used in organically growing the existing stores. Bibliography Firer, C. Ross, SA. Westerfield, RW. Jordan, BD. Fundamentals of Corporate Finance. 4th South African Edition. 2009. McGraw-Hill Education(UK)

THE JOMTEIN AND DAKAR CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR ALL FINAL Essays

THE JOMTEIN AND DAKAR CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR ALL FINAL Essays The importance of education is obvious. It is a fundamental right and no country has succeeded without educating its people. Education is the key to sustaining growth and reducing poverty and helps to improve security, health, prosperity and ecological balance in the world. It encourages social, economic and cultural progress, tolerance and international cooperation. It is probably the single most effective means of curbing population growth, reducing child mortality, eradicating poverty and ensuring democracy, peace and sustainable development. This academic paper will, therefore, identify the themes or resolutions presented at the Jomtein conferences on education for all in 1990. It will further highlight how Zambia has performed in implementing these resolutions of educational development. The Jomtein conference on education for all took place in Thailand, in March 1990 in the small coastal town of Jomtien. Governments as well as representatives from varied organizations agreed to take the necessary steps to universalize primary education and massively reduce illiteracy before the end of the decade, as well as to expand early childhood education, improve learning achievement, reduce the male-female literacy gap, expand basic education opportunities for youth and adults and use all available communication channels to promote knowledge, skills and values for better living. The terms of reference of the Jomtein conferences on education for all in 1990 were recalling that education is a fundamental right for all people, women and men, of all ages, throughout our world; understanding that education can help ensure a safer, healthier, more prosperous and environmentally sound world, while simultaneously contributing to social, economic, and cultural progress, tolerance, and international cooperation; knowing that education is an indispensable key to, though not a sufficient condition for, personal and social improvement and recognizing that traditional knowledge and indigenous cultural heritage have a value and validity in their own right and a capacity to both define and promote development. Others included, acknowledging that, overall, the current provision of education is seriously deficient and that it must be made more relevant and qualitatively improved, and made universally available; recognizing that sound basic education is fundamental to the strengthening of higher levels of education and of scientific and technological literacy and capacity and thus to self-reliant development; and recognizing the necessity to give to present and coming generations an expanded vision of, and a renewed commitment to, basic education to address the scale and complexity of the challenge. In other words, the Jomtein conferences on education for all in 1990 focussed on the following areas of educational development of meeting basic learning needs, shaping the vision, universalizing access and promoting equity, focusing on learning, broadening the means and scope of basic education, enhancing the environment for learning strengthening partnerships, developing a supportive policy context, mobilizing resources and strengthening international solidarity. At the World Education Forum, held in Dakar in April 2000, the aim of EFA was reaffirmed and operationalized as six major goals; two of which were also adopted in the same year as constituting the Millennium Development Goals. These goals are: expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children; ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality; and ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes. Other goals were achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults; eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; and improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. Since the international community meet at Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 and agreed on the framework for provision of Education for All (EFA) by 2015, Zambia like many other countries took up the challenge almost

How Dustin Stout Rocks Social Media Scheduling with Social Templates

How Dustin Stout Rocks Social Media Scheduling with Social Templates So you created a blog post. Good for you! If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent close to eight hours writing that literary masterpiece. You’ve got the perfect headline crafted, you’ve got great visuals sprinkled throughout the post, and you’ve probably got some great quotable moments throughout it just dying to be tweeted out. There’s only one thing left to do–schedule out all your social media promotion. Even the most brilliant and savvy social media managers dread this task. Why? Because it’s a crap-ton of work. And the more savvy you are, the more work you know it is to schedule the right posts, at the right times, on the right networks. But, dear friends, you no longer need to dread this arduous and tedious task. Our good friends at have liberated us from the tyranny of mass social status scheduling. With this one, glorious feature, you and I can be 1,000% more productive (rough estimate) at scheduling our literary masterpieces to be promoted on the social interwebs. In this post, I’m going to show you a handful of ways my team and I are taking advantage of a feature called Social Templates in the most effective ways possible. Following these tips and strategies will help you and your team save dozens (dare I say, hundreds) of hours and make your social promotion more effective. Heres how to use Social Templates in @like @DustinWStout from @warfarepluginsBefore I go straight into how we build our social templates, there’s a few things I think everyone needs to understand about the thought process behind them. Understand This: Every Network is Different One of the first things I often teach when talking about social media marketing is that you must never have a shotgun mentality. Forget trying to â€Å"spray and pray† one message across all the networks- it simply won’t work. Your content will sink, and your followers will tune you out. Each social network has its own culture and you need to treat it accordingly. A message you share on Twitter will not have the same success on Facebook or Google+. And a post that does well on Pinterest will not do as well on Reddit. The platforms serve different audiences with different content expectations and intents. Social platforms serve different audiences with different content expectations and intents.Suffice to say, you need to understand what types of content expectations the audience on each network has and then craft your messages accordingly. Understand This: Timing is Crucial and Different for Every Network There are two types of ideas I want you to understand here: Network posting volume Network peak hours Network Posting Volume Firstly, let’s take a look at what I mean when I say â€Å"Network Posting Volume†. Basically, each social network has a different tolerance for how much content should be shared in a given day. This is also referred to as posting frequency. each social network has a different tolerance for how much content should be shared in a given day.Some social networks naturally have an expectation of lower posting frequency while others have a higher posting frequency. Twitter, for example, is probably the highest volume social network. You can post 15-20 times a day and still be considered a â€Å"low-volume† tweeter in some circles. So for the sake of simplicity, our team has decided to list out each network and its daily posting frequency (or volume). Now, the given here is, of course, how much can your specific audience tolerate? Always run all these types of generalizations through your own audience filter. But if you don’t know where to start, this is a good place to do so. Now, the important thing to understand here as well, is that in the long-term promotion sense, lower-volume means you need to spend more time between resharing the same things. We’ll keep this in mind when we get to building our social template. Recommended Reading: Using Social Templates to Promote Your Content Faster What Are Peak Hours? In addition to each network’s volume you need to know when your social audience is most active. This will vary depending on your audience, so I’m not going to give one of those â€Å"Perfect Time to Post† tips. Instead, I highly recommend you use tools like Buffer’s Optimal Scheduling tool  or s Best Time Scheduling feature. Or go through s own epic blog post about the subject. Now, having covered these considerations, it’s clear that the task of content promotion is not an easy one. When you publish an epic blog post and you want to maximize its reach with your social networks you need to think about: How to craft a message unique for each social channel What time(s) to post it on each network for optimal reach How many times you need to share it on each network and how frequently to reshare it In the old days (as in a few months ago) this process would add an extra hour or more to the production of every single blog post. Not anymore. Setting Up ’s Social Templates for Maximum Effectiveness When announced Social Templates, it was like the heavens opened. I instantly saw that we were now able to maximize our content promotion with efficiency. I’m going to show you how we’ve broken down our own social templates. And all the efficiency geeks said: On top of being efficient with your promotion, we also want to be as effective as we can, being sure to create templates that will change based on the type of content we are promoting. Step 1: Know Your Content Categories Before you create a template, it’s important to know what categories of content you’re creating. If you follow a strict set of categories for your blog posts, this should be easy. You will want to create a different social template for every Category you post to. For example, here’s what ours look like on the Warfare Plugins blog: New Blog Post: Social Media New Blog Post: Content Marketing New Blog Post: WordPress New Blog Post: Blogging The reason for this is because your social templates will likely include posting to Pinterest Boards, Facebook Groups, or other targeted social channels. Having a template for each category means you don’t have to go in and specify the Board or Group for those specific channels every time- it’s already in place. So, for example, our New Blog Post: Social Media template has only Social Media Pinterest boards and Facebook Groups that get posted to. This takes one more step out of the equation when we go to apply the template to a new blog post. Step 2: Set Your Helpers Helpers were a real game-changer for us as well. Being able to set up our templates with custom-built helpers means we only have to write the message one time and have it applied to all the corresponding social media posts. The helpers we use are consistent across pretty much all of our templates (which also makes possible the duplicating of templates mentioned previously). I’ve come up with an â€Å"anatomy† so to speak of social messages. This was adapted from my own Anatomy of a Perfect Google+ Post. Our text helpers are as follows: {title} the title of the blog post {lead} usually an introductory sentence/paragraph at the beginning of the post that draws the reader in {summary} a brief summary of the post and what someone will get out of reading it {question} a question that is answered by the blog post {quote} a good quote from the article {pin-desc} a description specifically crafted for Pinterest {tweet} a custom tweet for the post {hashtag-1} most relevant hashtag for the article {hashtag-2} second most relelvant hashtag for the article From these 9 text helpers we can now create an infinite amount of social messages. For our templates, this usually means 29 different messages sent out over the first 30 days. There are then also a handful of Image Helpers that are applied to each template: {feature-img} the featured or primary image {pinterest-img} a Pinterest-optimized image (7351102) {pinterest-alt} an alternate Pinterest-optimized image (so we’re not pinning the same exact thing every time {quote-img} an image that features the quote we’ll use in our {quote} text helper {question-img} an image that features the question from the {question} helper {utility-img} if a blog post has a tutorial, infographic or some sort of utlitiarian image included {gif} because every goog blog post should have at least one animated gif Now, you may not always have every single one of the above types of images for every blog post, and that’s okay. You can always just use the same image multiple times for different helpers. These serve more as a guide rather than absolute necessity. Here is a hypothetical example of what a blank social template looks like in . Step 3: Schedule the Messages This is the most time-consuming step, but ultimately will save you the most time. After you do this, you never have to worry about scheduling your promotion ever again. The way we did it is we took one social network at a time and scheduled all of those out over the first 30 days. Then we went back through and did the next network. I won’t spend time telling you what times work best or what volume you should post for each network. s Lance Hendrickson already did a fantastic job at putting together a Social Media Posting Schedule Kit that I, myself, actually used as a starting point. So if you don’t know where to start with your audience, use that. You can always edit the templates later if you want to refine it based on your own results with your audience. How Will You Use Social Templates? With ’s new social templates, our content marketing game has been revolutionized, and yours can too. Not only can you save literally hundreds of hours of scheduling and planning time, but you can be more effective at it. Spend the time you’ll be saving wisely. Use it to engage with your communities and learn how to better serve them. The better you serve them, the more everyone will thrive.

Business Ethics (Case Analysis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Ethics (Case Analysis) - Essay Example Brazil has been a place that Caterpillar has utilized to expand its operations and in 1993 the company consolidated its Brazilian operations in Piracicaba. Piracicaba was a town in dying need of industrial development in order to improve the supply of jobs available to the people. The region needed help and Catepillar became the perfect opportunity the people of Piracicaba needed. As Catepillar established itself in Piracicaba its arrival place it on the map as far as the town gaining international recognition. This indirectly helped the tourism industry and it eventually open the doors so that other companies began to move into Piracicaba. Caterpillar at first did not get too involved in the community. As the company starting building a networking within the community its level of involvement in social affairs at Piracicaba increase. Caterpillar since its arrival at Piracicaba improved the quality of life of the community by providing quality good paying jobs which helped many people in the region get out of poverty. Not only did the company pay a good salary, but the firm also provided many fringe benefits. The creation of a drug rehabilitation program to help employees with addiction is an example of the types of initiatives the company performed that goes beyond the norm. The employees are one of many stakeholder groups a company must considered when implementing corporate social responsibility strategies. Some of the other stakeholders that must be included within a CRS plan are the environment, suppliers, business partners, vendors, shareholders, lenders, and the community (Kotler, 2002). Despite the positive change that came once the company settled in the area many people the perception of many of the locals is that the company was simply not doing enough. Another thing was that the people felt that those Brazilians that gotten these good jobs were not grateful and were not doing anything to help the

How does sacramental theology describe the symbolic link between God Essay

How does sacramental theology describe the symbolic link between God and Christian disciples through Jesus Christ, the Church and sacraments - Essay Example Sacraments are presented as a passage for the Christians in whom their spirits are promised a better resolve with Christ4. The church has practised the ritual presented by Christ during the final days before crucifixion to remember the promise that was bestowed on humanity. Sacraments have presented variable meanings upon Christians with the majority of the Protestants referring to it as ordinance as compared to the catholic definition and meaning. Catholics and Orthodox Church have held a higher significance on the term having several phases, each testifying on the faith bestowed on the believer5. They believe that through achieving these phases of the sacraments, there is a higher grace form achieved. Protestants, in turn, have upheld the Luther provision, practising Baptism and Eucharist. These presentations were witnessed in Christ through the bible and a connection is achieved on their implementation. Sacramental theology teaches that these measures have boosted the relationship with God emphasizing on the need to deliver faith and grace to humanity6. The practise on the sacraments hold a symbolic meaning as the teachings of Jesus and his practised are rekindled in the present society through

Pocahontas Term Paper Essay Example for Free

Pocahontas Term Paper Essay In Camilla Townsend’s book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Townsend points out that there are many historical inaccuracies and myths that are associated with the story of Pocahontas. Using historical evidence to support the story of Pocahontas, Townsend attempted to create an accurate timeline bringing the past to the present. At the same time, the Disney film Pocahontas attempted to depict Algonquian culture accurately, however, according to history, much of the material presented in the film is full of misconceptions and is historically imprecise. In fact, Disney’s Pocahontas epitomizes John Smith and Pocahontas as heroes who prevented a war between the Algonquian Native American tribes and the colonists who were living in Jamestown. However, historical evidence proves that at the time John Smith came into contact with Powhatan, Pocahontas was only a young child around the age of ten and, thus had very little influence over her father. Additionally, the film depicts John Smith as a leader who was looked up to by the other colonists, while historical records prove that he â€Å"had made many enemies by the time he had left Jamestown.†1 Disney inaccurately portrayed particular pieces of the Native American experience with the European colonists, specifically regarding Pocahontas, yet, it is important to consider the audience that this part of history was being presented to. One of the biggest historical inaccuracies presented in the Disney film Pocahontas is the love story between John Smith and Pocahontas. The fi lm exhibited John Smith and Pocahontas as falling madly in love at first sight. This love is represented in the film through the â€Å"colors of the wind† which can often be seen circling Smith or Pocahontas. In the book, Townsend provides evidence of a relationship between the two that included only friendship, laughter, and education, but not love. A demonstration of this relationship would be when Pocahontas â€Å"participated in a class of mutual language instruction with John Smith.†2 In fact, it is from these lessons that Smith was able to write down the only full Powhatan sentences to ever be recorded. While there was no love between Smith and Pocahontas, historical evidence has shown that Smith thought about Pocahontas in sexual  ways. Actually, â€Å"council investigation openly acknowledged that he made lewd comments about her – or having even done things to her – in jokes, or in moments of sexual arousal.†3 The true love story in Pocah ontas occurred between John Rolfe and Pocahontas at the Jamestown settlement a few years after Smith had made contact with the Algonquian tribe. Unfortunately, Rolfe was not even represented in the first Pocahontas film. Another historical inaccuracy that can be seen in the Disney film is the physical depiction of both John Smith and Pocahontas. The film portrays Smith as a young, tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed colonist who is charming and interested in protecting the Native Americans after coming into contact with Pocahontas. In contrast, historical evidence mentions that he was interested in control, and his intent was to subjugate the Native Americans so that â€Å"they could be made to work for their conquerors.†4 Smith was particularly interested in power and control over the Native Americans to further the cause in the New World for the English, which â€Å"unfortunately had passed the English by for at least a century.†5 Interestingly, Smith is portrayed in the film as being a young adult, of similar age to Pocahontas; however, in reality he was a middle-aged man with a large beard, and much older than Pocahontas.6 Smith is not the only person who was represented inaccurately by Disney in the film. Pocahontas is portrayed in the film as being a tall, beautiful, young adult who is free-spirited and passionate about nature. The most serious inaccuracy regarding Pocahontas is undoubtedly the fact that she is represented as a young adult, most likely around the age of twenty. According to historical records, Pocahontas, at the time of Smith’s arrival to the New World, was only ten years old.7 Additionally, the film depicts Pocahontas as being shocked and in awe of the English, however, evidence shows that â€Å"at no point did Powhatan, Pocahontas, or any of their people look on the strangers with wide-mouthed awe or consider them gods.†8 In fact, it is because of her young age that Townsend believes that â€Å"Powhatan and his advisors were hardly under her influence† when it came to policy decisions. Thus, her representation as a young adult is historically inaccurate and was clearly put in place to support the imaginary love story betwee n her and John Smith and make this fairy tale seem more believable. In Disney’s Pocahontas, it is evident that Powhatan desires Pocahontas to marry a Native American. In fact, the film even depicts Powhatan selecting Kocoom,  one of his strongest warriors, to be Pocahontas’ future husband. However, Townsend shines light on the idea that Powhatan did not have a strong preference about who Pocahontas married because Pocahontas’ mother lacked â€Å"political significance.†9 For this reason, any male child that Pocahontas was to bear would have not been placed in a seat of power, so it was not particularly necessary that she marry at all. As a result, she was given the choice of whom she wanted to marry. Interestingly, historical records indicate that Pocahontas â€Å"married a man named Kocoom, around the age of twelve or thirteen† and that â€Å"she must have liked him very much indeed.†10 So while the Disney film inaccurately portrayed Powhatan’s interest in Pocahontas’ love life, the film was able to successfully introduce Kocoom as a great warrior who had love for Pocahontas. Unfortunately, the film also inaccurately depicted a skirmish between Smith and Kocoom, which ultimately led to Kocoom’s death after being shot in the back. One thing historians are certain about is that Kocoom was the first husband of Pocahontas, however, â€Å"within a few years Kocoom seems to have disappeared.†11 The true story behind what exactly happened to Kocoom is up for debate, although many believe that he could have been killed in war, as he was a warrior for Powhatan. Another historical inaccuracy in Pocahontas is the portrayal of Powhatan as a person who practices monogamy. In fact, there are slight references in the film that Pocahontas’ mother had died, thus, making Powhatan a widow. While it is possible that Pocahontas’ mother died, historians know that Powhatan practiced polygamy regardless, due to the numerous amount of children he had. Through this sy stem, â€Å"whole clans of brothers and sisters had an obvious shared interest in remaining united and maintaining their family’s power.†12 In Townsend’s book, it is stated that in order to maintain rule over the tribes he conquered, Powhatan would â€Å"simply marry a woman of their royal family† because â€Å"a son conceived by her would grow up with loyalty to both his father and to his mother’s people.†13 To be ensured of this loyalty, the children were to be raised by Powhatan himself. The film also portrayed the inaccurate idea that Powhatan was interested in killing all of the colonists. In fact, what Powhatan really wanted was to gain metal tools as well as technology in the form of guns, knives, hatchets and pans; this is the reason why he made a deal John Smith.14 Townsend even included the fact that Powhatan was interested in  Ã¢â‚¬Å"establishing kinship ties as a means of ensuring his expanding control.†15 While Disney portrayed the story of Pocahontas inaccurately in many ways, some of the historical information was displayed in a correct manner. At the beginning of the film, the women of the tribe can be seen working in the fields. This, from the study of history, is accurate because we know that every member of the tribe worked in the village, even the royal family.16 Women could be seen dividing into groups in the morning; some would work the field, some would pick up firewood, and others would gather Tuckahoe to make flour.17 The film also depic ted the Native Americans’ telling of great stories that included the European conquests of parts of the New World. Being that Native American culture is passed down orally, historians can easily accept this idea that historical tales were told around campfires. Townsend explains that on an â€Å"ordinary evening, Pocahontas might have sat in the flickering light of torches and the central fire†¦listening to the older people tell stories.†18 While historians will never know exactly what Pocahontas was taught about her ancestry, it is safe to assume that there were many stories about the prior attempts of colonization that the â€Å"coat-wearers† had on their land. When analyzing the historical inaccuracies of the Disney film Pocahontas, it is important to keep in mind the audience that the film was created for. Disney undoubtedly created the film as a way to introduce the concept of Native Americans to children. In fact, one could argue that the primary audi ence that this film was intended for is between the ages of six and nine. As a result, Disney would not want to create a film that portrays all Europeans as power-hungry and eager to conquer the world in violent ways. After all, American children are more than likely living on land that belonged to the Native Americans at one time. It would not be favorable for Disney to illustrate the people around these children as a group who is interested in stealing from others. Disney hopes to teach kids about the importance of giving to others and keeping those you love close. Thus, this is why we see John Smith and Pocahontas as attractive role models who fall madly in love. Pocahontas was created to be a fairytale that portrayed the idea of ultimate love and happiness, not to show the utter destruction that the Native Americans and their land suffered from after contact with the Europeans. One could argue that Pocahontas was created to depict a peaceful transfer of lands from the Native Americans to  the European colonists through mutual agreement, an example of how inaccuracies about the true occurrence still persist today. Disney attempted to develop a film that introduced the history of Native Americans and the New World to young children through a simplistic story with a happy ending. However, this could become dangerous if the children who view the film do not receive proper education about the subject and continuously base facts off the film. In general, making a fictitious representation of true events could pass as unobjectionable in order to make a story more interesting for film. In the case of Pocahontas, when a story works to make the group that was truly at fault look innocent, issues arise in terms of proper education and the reinforcement of unjust myths. The film, Pocahontas, was undoubtedly filled with many historical inaccuracies, which have caused confusion about the realistic story of Pocahontas, but it did provide truthful, basic background information about Native American lifestyle at the time of the European conquest. I agree with Townsend that Pocahontas deserves for her true story to be known. However, I believe that creating a Disney film was not the best way to accomplish this, nor was it the goal of the company. Introducing the true interactions and agreements made between the Algonquian Native Americans and the European conquerors was not possible to do through an animated Disney film due to the typical audience of the film and the simplistic, family-oriented themes that Disney incorporates. American History classes provided in American schools, particularly in areas that have a strong historical Native American presence, are doing a better job of teaching students about the truthful atrocities that the European settlers created for the Native Americans. It is clear, however, that pop-culture may not be at the same level of educating society. Works Cited Townsend, Camilla. Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. Pocahontas. Dir. Mike Gabriel. 1995. DVD.